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The Aces On Bridge by Bobby Wolff
Opening Lead: ♠10
With such excellent fits in hearts and clubs, North-South had little difficulty in reaching their heart slam when South relayed for shape and found first extra shape, then a spade control. The auction was accurate and efficient, the play less so.
When West led the spade 10, declarer won in dummy and crossed to a trump to ruff a spade, crossed to a top club to ruff a second spade, then took a second top trump and found the bad news.
With no tricks available to him, he could do little but exit with two more rounds of trumps, hoping West had started with only three spades. But that player could win and cash out the spades to set the slam.
When in with the spade ace, declarer can count 13 tricks without a finesse if trumps split 3-2, but he should take precautions against a 4-1 break — after all, that happens frequently enough to make it worthwhile to give up on the chances of an overtrick.
By leading a trump from dummy and ducking East’s nine, South then has sufficient entries and trumps to win 12 tricks without the risk of playing on diamonds. After a diamond return, South wins and ruffs a spade in dummy, comes to the club king to ruff a second spade, then draws trump, pitching diamonds from the board. He can now run the clubs and score his three top trumps, two aces, five clubs and two spade ruffs for his 12 tricks.
Bid with the aces
Answer: 1NT/2♣
A two-club rebid is acceptable given the quality of the clubs. That call suggests six clubs rather than five, but in an emergency the bid can be made with five. However, when you hold a singleton honor in partner's suit, an argument can be made for rebidding one no-trump. Even if partner opts to play spades with a chunky five-card suit, the bare ace is as good support as a small doubleton.
This Hand of the Day was originally published on aces.bridgeblogging.com.
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